Magistrate the Wor. Will Francis so he could attend to funeral arrangements for his father, who died while he was in Police custody.

Gerald C. Hall, who will be tried in the Supreme Court, was not required to enter a plea when he appeared in Magistrates' Court yesterday.

He is charged with robbing a 29-year-old Warwick woman of her purse as she walked along Burnaby Street in Hamilton in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Hall struggled briefly with a Police officer who witnessed the incident, but he eventually broke free and ran away.

The handbag and its contents, valued at $80.70, were recovered when Hall was caught in the parking lot of the MarketPlace soon afterward.

In Police custody since his arrest, the 26-year-old St. George's resident told Mr. Francis: "I wasn't allowed to call anybody until (Monday) night. That's when I found out my father had died.'' The self-employed mason said he had been doing various jobs around his neighbourhood before his arrest.

"I feel my place is with my family now. I'm my father's only son,'' Hall said during his plea for bail.

Mr. Francis told Hall he would have to post $2,000 with a like surety, and report to the St. George's Police Station three times per week until his trial.

He was also warned not to approach the complainant or leave the Island.